Each of these companies demonstrate how lawmakers can incentivize higher wages instead of universally mandating them.In fact, companies like Walmart, Target, and McDonalds show that voluntarily raising employee wages is routine. And data agree. Economists from Miami and Trinity Universities have documented that most minimum wage employees earn a raise within 1-12 months on the job. And only two percent of the hourly workforce was paid the federal minimum wage by 2006.

These findings aren’t surprising. When businesses with razor-thin profit margins can’t offset the labor cost increase with higher prices, they resort to offsetting these costs by reducing work hours. When employers have the freedom to manage their businesses, less-skilled workers benefit. For these reasons, most economists oppose mandating higher minimum wages–particularly at the $15 level.

Lawmakers should avoid forcing employers to pay higher wages which inevitably costs employees their jobs. Instead, both business owners and employees benefit when legislators create incentives for employers to raise wages on their own.